If there's one thing that Aussies do well, it's WINE. Australia's first vineyards were planted in 1788 in a small area near the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Today, you will find vineyards throughout all 64 designated wine regions totalling approximately 160,000 hectares. Australia is the fourth largest exporter of wine, selling to more than 100 countries around the world including Canada, and contributing $5.5 billion to the nation's economy.
While there are many wine regions in the land down under, there are apparently ten to keep an eye out for. From the rugged and isolated beauty of Margaret River in WA, to the historical home of Australian wine, the Hunter Valley in NSW, a journey across Australia's wine regions is filled with a diversity of climates, soils, elevation and styles.
Alright, so not to try to move into all the stuffy antics that come with understanding wines properly, let's outline a couple of pointers if you ever want to try to fit in with the wine crowd. For myself, I usually just tend to grab a cork screw, twist off the top or open the box of wine and indulge (sometimes a wine glass is not even needed in certain circumstances. The bottle will do fine as your sippy cup for the evening).
Following the laid back personality of Australians, rules for Australian wine tasting is very similar.
Rule number one: There are no rules.
Australian food and wine offers more freedom and diversity than any other nation on the planet. While it is important to understand the basic tastes of wine: sweet, bitter and sour, much of how we establish this is by aromas. (including floral, fruit and spice)
Another thing to consider besides the taste of your wine, the weight and intensity, or texture is important for food and wine pairing.
But, with those guidelines to follow, in the end you know what you like and wine should be something you enjoy and shouldn't be an obstacle course to go through before you can uncork the bottle, kick back and enjoy a bottle of Australia's finest grape juice.
Some of my favourites include:
If I had known you liked wine this much, I would have made Darren take you to a winery lol...he's sommelier :P... maybe when we visit you there ;) im saving those points ... it'll take me a while but im trying :P
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